Course Details

Directional Drilling and Well Placement for High Angle and Complex Wells (DRI37)

Description

This course will deliver a comprehensive understanding of modern directional drilling techniques and the industry standards used in well placement. The evolution of directional drilling tools and techniques that are used to achieve high accuracy well positioning are detailed with reference to the fundamental engineering that underlies the equipment we work with, and the procedures and practices we work to. This is very much an operationally focused course which looks to deliver a detailed understanding of not just the narrow field of the Directional Driller’s work, but all the associated areas of risk that can result from the practices, tools and techniques that they may use.The knowledge from this course can be directly applied to ongoing drilling operations or future well planning and will have a dramatic impact on drilling performance. All the topics are placed in their operational context and an understanding of how each topic is inter-related with the other subject areas in the course is developed throughout the week.Throughout the course areas in which directional drilling can adversely impact the well cost or increase the well risk are detailed and the mitigations for these risks are discussed.

Course Level: SkillInstructor: Kevin Gray

Designed for you, if you are...

A drilling engineer, well site supervisor, tool pusher, rig manager or field support personnel

A geoscientist or reservoir engineer looking to get better value from your interactions with the drilling team

A professional involved in improving drilling performance and cutting drilling costs

How we build your confidence

Practical demonstrations of all the key principles using models and simulations in the classroom

A narrative that runs through the course where each topic is inter-related and built on the previous learnings

Extensive allowance for class-led questioning within the course delivery

The benefits from attending

By the end of the course you will be confident to understand:

Why life-threatening well-to-well collisions happen and how even large technically driven companies make mistakes. You will be given the knowledge to understand how to avoid these catastrophic events

How the role of the Industry Steering Committee on Wellbore Surveying Accuracy has shaped the requirements for modern well placement. You will understand what these standards are and why we must work to them

When to use high cost technology like rotary steerable systems and when these systems are of little value

How to push the drilling envelope further and increase the drilling radius of any rig to deliver more fluids back to the asset

How to use the evolving science of geomechanics alongside the increasing volume of formation evaluation while drilling data is available in real time to deliver substantially lower NPT on any drilling project

How to work with a geology team to geo-place or geo-steer a well path within specific lithologies or a specific fluid type

Topics

How increasing hole angle creates significant problems and NPT because of hole cleaning, we look at how to identify, address and mitigate these problems

The origins of torque and drag in the well bore and how they impact our ability to increase our drilling radius from any rig. Why drag impacts horizontal lateral lengths

Delivering world beating ERD wells with limited rig capabilities

How to design the Bottom Hole Assembly (BHA) for low angle wells and how this fundamental design must change as the well inclination increases

How the tendency of the Bottom Hole Assembly to build, drop or hold angle must be designed to match the desired well profile and how this is achieved to deliver wells with the lowest tortuosity

The evolution of directional drilling technology, the key drivers for this and why so many wells are now drilled with high cost rotary steering tools

Surveying the well, the key technologies used to survey the well and how mistakes in well positioning are made

The fundamental quality assurance and quality control of wellbore surveys How the accuracy of MWD surveying can be improved by advanced survey processing techniques

The principle of uncertainty and its effect on probability for well anti-collision and target sizing

Well positional calculations and how our best techniques can be undermined by poor rigsite practices

How wells are deflected and steered, using magnetic, gravity and inertial tool face measurements

Shock and vibration of the downhole equipment, its origins, its impact and how to reduce or remove this unwanted problem, reduce NPT and improve performance

Multilateral wells, their place in reducing production costs, their drilling and economic risks and benefits